PROJECT: Minority Rights Group

This project is no longer accepting applicants, but if you are very interested please get in touch and we can see if there are any further opportunities.

In brief: Minority Rights Group is looking for a team of Banyan students to conduct a research project on equitable, participatory and transparent models of benefits and royalties sharing with communities (ideally indigenous communities). This project is linked to the implementation of a case before the African Commission on Human and Peoples Rights (CEMIRIDE and MRG (onbehalf of EWC) v Kenya) where the Commission recommended, inter alia, that Kenya “pay royalties to the Endorois [semi-nomadic indigenous people of approx. 60000 people] from existing economic activities”.

The research project will aim at providing concrete material on and examples of levels of royalty and benefit sharing with local communities (i.e. examples of revenue sharing from natural resource extraction/ tourism by communities in comparable situations). Examples from Africa would be ideal but examples from other regions could also be of benefit.

This data will ideally be presented in a clear memorandum format and the evidence obtained will be used both to inform and subsequently back up the Endorois’ position in negotiations with the Kenyan government. 

We are looking for a team of at least 2 to 3 students to work on this project.

Commitments: Minority Rights Group are looking to get a good draft of this research project completed by early April. Time commitments for individual students will depend on the size of the team working on the project.


Deadline: As soon as possible. Please email us at soas@banyan-advocates.co.uk detailing your availability and interest in the project. Please also attach a CV.

Banyan Summary 2012

2012 has been an exciting year for Banyan, and as we begin our first full year, we would like to give you a quick summary of our activities so far:

April 2012 saw the official creation of Banyan: SOAS Advocates, with an extremely successful opening event on 23^rd April. “Putting your degree into action” saw a number of speakers from legal, NGO and academic backgrounds discuss the many ways students could demonstrate their abilities and experience, encouraging them to make the most of opportunities to apply their skills in practice on different research projects in a range of environments.

Since then, Banyan has offered a series of exciting opportunities to postgraduate students at SOAS.

In August 2012, the Revenue Watch Institute (RWI) asked Banyan to build a team of several students to work with RWI in supporting the implementation of the government of Guinea’s new mining code. The students have helped the government in ongoing negotiations and drafted research reports on different mining companies.

In the same month three Banyan students joined the MSI Project, an NGO monitoring the human rights impacts of multi-stakeholder initiatives. They wrote reports analysing some of these initiatives and helped generate recommendations to improve their adherence to human rights standards.

In November 2012, the Aegis Trust came to Banyan via Dr Chandra Sriram from the SOAS School of Law. Four postgraduate students are researching and drafting a report regarding Sudan and the ICC, which should be available by mid-February 2013.

Banyan is in the process of creating a team to work on a case with human rights solicitors Deighton Pierce Glynn. Deighton are particularly interested in Banyan’s multi-lingual membership as the case relates to immunity for torture prosecution and a leading official in an Arabic speaking country.

Finally, Dr Lutz Oette at SOAS has asked Banyan to recruit a single student to collaborate with the African Centre for Justice and Peace on a major report focused on Sudan.

As you can tell, this year has been an exciting one for Banyan and its members, something we’re hoping to continue this in 2013. If you'd like to get involved in running Banyan and working alongside out partner organisations, please contact us at  soas@banyan-advocates.co.uk.

We hope everyone has an excellent 2013!

Luke, Jess and Deval

Banyan: SOAS Advocates – An Introduction

Approach

Banyan: SOAS Advocates is a student-run network of postgraduate students studying at SOAS, University of London. Banyan mobilises these students to offer pro bono legal and policy research as well as drafting skills to interested third parties looking to collaborate on projects that have clear development, human rights or social justice advocacy goals. 

The society responds to requests from organisations such as civil society actors, law firms and development organizations: for example, it has recently supported a group of eminent legal historians in drafting a brief to the US Supreme Court in the case of Kiobel, concerning alleged corporate human rights abuses.

Proposals

Banyan operates as a network. Proposals from third parties are circulated amongst its members, and a shortlist is drawn up by the Banyan committee from those who express interest, based on skills and available time. The committee then work with the organisation to finalise the team.

In order to draw together the most effective team, it is helpful to have a clear indication of the substance of work, an estimate of time required, hard and soft deadlines (such as court dates and internal review dates), skills required and desired outputs. If the organisation would like a member of staff to act as quality control on a specific project, that can be explored but may not be possible.

Process

Once the team is agreed on, the team and organisation work together directly to manage the process and to produce and take responsibility for outputs. The committee will keep an overall eye on the running of the projects, and can reach out to the network to draw on additional resources if needed.

 

If any further information is required, please contact Banyan: SOAS Advocates at soas@banyan-advocates.co.uk
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Deval, Jess and Luke - Banyan: SOAS Advocates